Wednesday, June 23, 2010

In the News


McDonald’s may be sued for making kids fat by marketing the toys contained in Happy Meals. The claim is that McDonald’s advertising is turning the nation’s kids into an army of word of mouth drones who nag their parents ceaselessly until they give in and buy them Happy Meals so they can have the toys. McDonald’s disagrees. Yes, they do use the toys as a marketing device but Happy Meals have small portions with healthy options so it’s not their fault if your kid is fat.

A man in Cuba was released from prison after a year for buying cement on the black market to be used in a construction project. He’s being permitted to serve out the last four months at home. He was convicted when most are released with a slap on the wrist and a fine because the Cuban government wanted to silence his criticism of them.

Fifteen people were convicted in Saudi Arabia for mingling with unrelated members of the opposite sex. The adults received one to two years of jail time plus an unspecified number of lashes. The minor involved got 80 lashes, no time served. Saudi Arabia interprets Islamic laws very strictly.

San Francisco passed a law requiring cell phone retailers to post the amount of radiation emitted by each model. Around the same time the results of a study were released in the UK stating that living close to cell towers while pregnant has no impact on the occurrence of cancer in children. They estimate that the radiation from towers for a full day is equivalent to 30 minutes cell phone usage.

And one final thing – According to the UN who issues an annual report on such things, Peru’s coca crop grew for the fourth straight year coming closer to knocking Columbia out of the top producer spot. Coca is the bush from which the raw material to make cocaine is obtained.

Yeah, this is why I don’t usually read the paper.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The whole McDonalds thing irritates me to no end. Parents should get their kids off the couch and outside doing something if they're gaining weight. My three kids grew up on McDonalds and they're fine.

This is why I don't read papers either. ;)

Molly Daniels said...

Me too, Amber. I have no problems saying 'No' to my kids' requests for fast-food...and (get this...) I feel NO GUILT! I just don't understand people who claim they feel guilty for 'depriving' their kids of 'wants', not 'needs'. Parents just have no backbone anymore...my kids threaten to call CPS because I'm 'abusing them'? Go right ahead and see how hard they laugh because I haven't provided them with a cell phone, laptop, trips to wherever, etc...